Soup is a food product that is greatly appreciated as a light snack or as a starter in a more extensive dinner. It is important that the soup has to be served warm. At home, soup is usually prepared in a kettle in the kitchen. When the soup has been heated to the right temperature, it is poured into bowls using a ladle and served directly, such that it may be consumed while still warm. However, soup is also served in snack bars, waiting rooms, office restaurants, petrol stations, etc. In those circumstances, the soup is usually kept warm using an insulating kettle. For example, JP2002238718 (Fukui Craft KK) discloses such a heat-insulating container for soup, wherein an inner wall and an outer wall of the container are joined by a foaming resin. The soup is generally heated on an electric plate. A special situation exists in office restaurants with self-service, where the soup has to be kept warm unattended for longer periods. This is usually achieved by means of an electronic temperature control unit. For instance, GB-A-2 380 063 discloses an electric kettle and a means for s sensing the water temperature and switching-off the kettle at a pre-selected temperature.
If, however, the manager of the office restaurant wishes to offer the choice between more that one type of soup to his clients, this is often not possible because the available space is too restricted. It is therefor an object of the present invention to provide a kettle assembly that enables the simultaneous delivery of more than one type of soup at a constant, elevated temperature and in a restricted space.
Surprisingly, it was found that this object can be achieved by the kettle assembly for soup according to the present invention, comprising a kettle part and a lid, which is characterised in that the kettle part comprises a cylindrical outer container and a cylindrical inner container fitting inside said outer container, said inner container having therein a vertical separating plate, such that at least two compartments are formed and that the lid comprises a hinge, such that each of the compartments of the inner container can be opened separately.